“Not only is the U.S. coming off a strong quarter, but the new tax reform measures are continuing to provide a boost, with investors keen to hear more about what impact this will have on future earnings,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at online foreign exchange broker Oanda.

More than three quarters of the 26 S & P 500 companies that have reported so far have topped profit estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

At 9:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 225.34 points, or 0.87 percent, at 26,028.53, helping it record its fastest 1000-point rise. It ended above 25,000 on Jan. 4.

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The S & P 500 was up 18.09 points, or 0.65 percent, at 2,804.33 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 62.08 points, or 0.85 percent, at 7,323.14.

General Motors rose 2.7 percent after the company said it expected earnings in 2018 to be largely flat, compared with 2017, but that profits should pick up pace in 2019.

General Electric shares fell 3.7 percent after the industrial conglomerate said it would record a $6.2 billion charge in the fourth quarter as part of an ongoing review of its finance arm’s insurance portfolio.

Bitcoin tumbled 18 percent to a four-week trough close to $11,000, after reports that a ban on trading of cryptocurrencies in South Korea was still an option. Shares of cryptocurrency-related companies were all down. Marathon Patent, Riot Blockchain, Xunlei and Overstock.com fell between 7.7 percent and 11 percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,037 to 687. On the Nasdaq, 1,958 issues rose and 673 fell.

By Sruthi Shankar, Reuters

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